Case Number 02914: Small Claims Court

THE KINGSTON HIGH

The Charge

The proof is in the panties.

The Case

Sketch, Random, and History are three high school outsiders who decide to
make their dateless senior prom night a little more exciting. At one of the many
post-dance parties, they hook up with three lovely ladies, one of which is
Sketch's long lamented dream girl Trina. As the three couples bounce from
gathering to gathering, they constantly run into Mario and his gang of thug
wannabes. Mario is Trina's abusive and very overprotective boyfriend. He wants
Trina back by whatever means necessary. Sketch just wants a chance to express
his true feelings to his fantasy lady. And Trina, well, she's not sure what she
wants. Typical of most long nights of drinking, dancing, and smoking reefer,
confessions, confrontations, and miscommunications occur. In the end, friends
learn the truth about each other and reality replaces daydream as those who are
truly meant to be together spend some of their last few hours as members of the
class of The Kingston High getting better "acquainted."

The Kingston High has a true split personality; as a piece of fiction
and as a motion picture, half of it works well. And yet, there is the other half
that constantly threatens to -- and eventually does -- undermine it. On the plus
side are aspects like the script; an intelligent overview of the trials and
tribulations of growing up and looking for love within the high school
environment. There is a natural ring to the dialogue that allows the characters
to interact without resorting to overstatement or obvious clichés.
Director/screenwriter Stephen Townsend creates a smart, realistic story of young
men on the make, and the women they run in to. He has a special insight into
both the male and female of the species. Townsend's direction is also another
positive point for the film. The compositions and framing, which should be (and
are) hampered by the direct to video quality of the camerawork, are accomplished
and professional. He has a good eye for angles and understands how to support
his story with excellent performances (well, mostly excellent performances) and
a fluid editing style. Overall, the tone of The Kingston High is light,
airy and engaging. There is a sense of camaraderie and chemistry between the
actors and while most seem older than the young years they are playing, they
definitely capture the mindset and mentality of teenagers on the cusp of
adulthood. If the flaws in the production weren't present, The Kingston
High would be a fine first effort from a new voice in African American
cinema.

But the problems facing the film are almost insurmountable. And chief among
them is the performance of lead actor Jermaine Gladman as Sketch. Part of the
problem is purely aesthetic. Gladman is too whiny and awkward to be taken
seriously as an honest loner and loser. He seems lost, like a hip-hop
Porky's Peewee transplanted into The Last Black American Virgin.
But the other facet of his performance is far more controversial. Frankly, he's
not "ethnic" enough, which in retrospect seems unfair, but true. Among
his more urban counterparts, he comes across like Byron Woody Allen. The rest of
the cast does their best to bring a pragmatic, non-mannered style to their work.
But no matter how hard everyone else tries, it's hard to overcome Gladman's
nagging nebbish. Almost impossible to surmount is the digital camera crassness
of the image. This is one independent project that looks far too much like a
less than glorified amateur home movie. The substandard quality of the picture
constantly drags the professional aspirations of the movie back into the
extremely low budget alley that it appears to have been processed in. It's
forgivable that, within a limited financial scheme, digital technology was
employed. But what's not excusable is the inconsistent, atmosphere destroying
continuity errors that result. By the end, the lame image and some of the pat
plotting issues thwart the organic ambiance of the film. Occasionally, just when
you think you have the characters motivations all figured out, they go and do
something "formula" or hackneyed to remind us this is a movie, not a
docudrama slice of life.

Staying with the whole AC/DC quality of the movie The Kingston High
as a DVD is also a horribly mixed bag. The video and audio are source-oriented
atrocious. There are massive video flares, artifacting, grain, compression and
color inconsistencies. True, this was filmed on less than blockbuster equipment,
but to try and then pass this image off as how you actually wanted the film to
look is disingenuous to the audience. As is the Dolby Digital Stereo. There is
not much going on here, either in the words or the music. The channels are
barely used and the soundtrack remains flat and tepid throughout. As for bonus
content, we get a halfway decent set of filmographies and cast and crew bios,
but the photo gallery consists of images Photoshopped from the film onto the
cheesy yellow keep case cover. They look terrible. About the only acceptable
aspect of the digital presentation is the full-length audio commentary by
writer/director Townsend and producer Mary Glynn. Taking it upon themselves to
offer a kind of instructional overview of no-budget filmmaking, they are
engaging, witty, and brutally honest narrators. Glynn, in particular, loves to
take Townsend to task for overstretching his financial boundaries for the sake
of art, and Townsend is equally resolute on issues of casting, performance, and
rewrites. This is a very interesting and informative track, and it adds a great
deal to the DVD presentation of the title. It's too bad that some big name or
mid major studio didn't have more faith in Townsend's words and give him a
budget and equipment to match his imagination. As it stands, The Kingston
High is a clever, cautious film that loses much of its energy and
originality in a less than stellar presentation.